U.S. President Donald Trump on March 27 signed into law the CARES Act, a $2.2 trillion economic stimulus package aimed to provide financial and emergency relief to alleviate the impact of the COVID-19 global pandemic. The rescue package does not include tax credit extensions and direct pay provisions that wind and solar groups sought as…
Even modest carbon fees can facilitate emissions reductions in the short term, especially in the power sector where natural gas and renewables supplant coal, according to a March 17 report from the U.S. Energy Information Administration. However, once the emissions level linked to coal consumption is reached, the remaining gas- and petroleum-related emissions are harder…...
DTE Electric Company on March 20 filed a revised integrated resource plan with the Michigan Public Service Commission incorporating changes that the agency recommended to the original plan. The new IRP includes a single pathway and eliminates the four possible scenarios in the previous plan, applies higher energy waste reduction targets, and removes unapproved supply-side…...
The Virginia State Corporation Commission opened a proceeding on March 24 to explore the impact of increased electric vehicle deployment on the affordability and reliability of utility electric services. The proceeding will address a broad range of issues including existing development and projected growth, rate design, storage-specific issues, and public charging stations. The commission is…...
The Missouri Public Service Commission approved an agreement reducing Ameren Missouri’s revenues for electric service by $32 million, starting April 1, according to a March 23 news release. The change will lower residential electric rates by about 1.15 percent. Ameren’s previous rate decrease in 2018 resulted in a six percent rate cut as part of…
The New Jersey Board of Public Utilities issued a report on March 20 showing that 447 megawatts of solar capacity came online in 2019, setting a new record for solar installation in a single year. This brings the state’s total capacity to 3,190 megawatts, which represents five percent of its energy needs. The previous record…
The Bureau of Land Management on March 20 released a draft environmental assessment for Yellow Pine Solar LLC‘s 500-megawatt solar generating project spanning about 3,000 acres of public land in Nevada. The review includes analysis of the proposed photovoltaic generation station and ancillary facilities including battery storage, as well as an associated substation and transmission…
The Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission on March 20 rejected a request by Avista Corp., PacifiCorp, and Puget Sound Energy to recover $15.4 million in replacement power costs associated with the 2018 outage of the Colstrip coal-fired power plant in Montana. The commission found that the companies failed to prove that the costs for obtaining…...
Pacific Gas and Electric Company announced new commitments that resolve California Governor Gavin Newsom’s concerns about the utility’s reorganization to emerge from Chapter 11 bankruptcy, according to a March 20 press release. The commitments, concerning governance, operations, and financial structure, are designed to exit bankruptcy in a timely manner and participate in the state’s wildfire…...
The New York Public Service Commission on March 19 adopted changes to its direct current fast-charging, or DCFC, infrastructure program to allow brand-specific proprietary plugs to qualify for incentives if the charging station also has commonly accepted standardized plug types. The program aims to provide an economic incentive to private sector actors to build out…...
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission on March 20 proposed revisions to its electric transmission incentive policy to spur investment in the infrastructure needed to support the evolving generation mix, increasing number of new resources seeking transmission service, and changes in load patterns. The commission proposes a shift in its incentive analysis to grant incentives based…...
U.S. coal exports dropped to 93 million short tons last year, a 20 percent decline from 2018, according to a March 18 report from the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Exports of steam coal fell by 30 percent while metallurgical coal saw a moderate decline of 12 percent. In 2019, the biggest importers were India, Japan,…...